Taranaki gate stations, no.2

Taranaki gate stations, no.2

Ko te tānga nei hei tūtohi i tētehi tāreitanga i tōminatia e Ralph Hotere mō te whakaaturanga e kīia ana ko Stations of the cross, i whakaaturia i Te Whare Pīataata nei, i ngā marama o Maehe me Āperira i te tau 1981. I tū i te wā o te Aranga o Ihu Karaiti, ā, he rōpū rongotoi hōu i whakaatu hoki i ngā tāreitanga e pā ana ki te wā i rīpekatia te Karaiti.

I tōminatia e Hotere te hanganga o ngā kēti tekau mā whā ki tētehi rīpeka, i te takiwā e tū ana te hāpū hoko kai o Monica. Ko tōna tikanga, tekau mā whā hoki ngā hipi ka noho i roto i ngā kēti rā, ā, kua tohua ngā hipi katoa ki tētehi nama. Ko te whakapono ki te māpu hipi he kupu whakarite tino rongonui i hua mai i te Kawenata Tawhito me te Kawenata Hou. I te hikumutu o te whakaaturanga, ka kawea ngā hipi ki te whare patu mīti, patua ai.

Ahakoa te ngū mōiriiri e pā ana ki tēnei mahi, i whakaputaina e Hotere te maha o ngā taonga e tohe ana i te kaikiri, i te takahi i ngā tika a te tangata me te tūkino i taiao. Ko te raupatu tonu tōna pūtake, me te whakatairanga i te ahuwhenua i roto o Taranaki, tā te mea ko te whakapono tonu tērā.


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This drawing is a proposal for an unrealised installation Ralph Hotere intended to develop for the exhibition Stations of the cross, held at the Govett-Brewster between March and April 1981. Held over Easter, the exhibition included a group of contemporary artists whose work considered the story of Christ’s crucifixion.

Hotere hoped to arrange fourteen makeshift farm gates in the form of a cross in the gallery’s courtyard, where Monica’s cafe now stands. Fourteen sheep were to be contained within these gates, each one with a number spray-painted on them. The pious as a flock of sheep is a common metaphor in the Old and New Testaments. At the conclusion of the exhibition, the sheep were to be transported to the local meat works and slaughtered.

Though notoriously silent about his work, Hotere produced many works protesting racism, human rights abuses and environmental destruction. This work is as much about raupatu (Māori land confiscations) and the agricultural industry in Taranaki as it is about faith.

— Text developed for Te Hau Whakatonu: A Series of Never-ending Beginnings (5 August 2023–11 February 2024), curated by Taarati Taiaroa